Today in Tribe History: October 5, 1997

The Cleveland Indians are four outs from elimination against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series when single runs in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings give the Tribe a 3-2 win to force Game 5.

New York jumped on Orel Hershiser in the first inning, getting four hits and pushing two runs across to take the early lead. Paul O’Neill and Cecil Fielder were responsible for the RBI-knocks. The Indians cut the lead back to one in the bottom of the second when future Yankees outfielder David Justice hit a leadoff homer off of future Indians pitcher Dwight Gooden.

The score remained the same until two outs in the eighth, when Sandy Alomar knotted the game at two, driving a 2-0 pitch from Mariano Rivera over the wall in right field.

The New York bullpen had not allowed a run in the series until Alomar’s shot. The Indians will win the series the next day.

Exactly ten years later, the Indians will sting the Yankees again, getting a walk-off win in the ALDS in “The Bug Game”. Travis Hafner’s two-out, bases loaded single to the alley in right-center in the eleventh inning pushes Cleveland past New York, 2-1.